The Greater Good Can Be Wrong.

 How many times do we do things for the greater good?

The question is what is the greater good? The problem with this is this is different for different people and seemingly at different places.

This is why I try to look to the Bible and God as my true north. Of course, I do know there have and are people who twist the bible to mean what they want, but that is true about everything, not just the Bible. The difference is the Bible tells us we should have it shape us and not the other way around. But I digress.

The question we need to ask is this situation I face actually calls me to do something for the greater good. The classic example is hiding Jews from the Nazis. Of course, it was right to disobey the government to protect them. However, what about an illegal immigrant whose hope is to make it rich in America. Yes, I know many have more noble goals but I'm trying to make a point. Does it matter if the illegal is from Mexico or Canada? 

There are gray areas but I don't want us to get sidetracked in the gray. However, there are times we use the gray areas to justify something more than another greater good that we want for maybe less than honorable reasons.   

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Choosing to carry guilt.

 

I recently read a book by Andy Stanley, Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets. It was good.  He formulated a question about our decisions that caught my attention, "Is this action going to affect my future?"

He spoke about the brothers of Joseph carrying guilt about what they had done. He pointed out that when bad things started happening in Egypt they asked themselves if this was a result of what they had done to Joseph. 

This caused me to realize that these men may have been asking this question for years. For years, when things went wrong they could have asked themselves, "Did we deserve this?" Made me realize again that our actions affect our future even mentally. Secondly, God doesn't want us consumed with guilt. 

God offers us the same four truths Joseph did. The truth: What you did was evil. Truth: I forgive.  Truth: It is worked out for good. Truth: Come and share my blessings.

We can choose to stay in the famine and in the guilt but God is offering something better.

Spared no Expense

In the movie Jurassic Park, John Hammond the creator of the park says he, "Spared no expense." I would argue, he believed by spending all the money he did he could control the creature in the park. The truth of the matter was made clear in the response, that it was all an illusion, he never had control. As the story unfolds, we see that he didn't. Even if the park hadn't had been compromised at that time the park wasn't under the control of man. We are given the idea that the park would have eventually gone array. 

This thought of lack of control brought me back to something I have been thinking about lately. The illusion of self-control in our own lives. We delude ourselves into thinking we can control our own lives. Science has shown, we will even rewrite our memories to line up with what we want to believe. The Bible teaches we want to be in control. We want to control ourselves and others. We, shall I say it, want to be a god. The problem is of course we aren't god. We will never be a god and neither will anyone else. 

We need help. We need other people to help us. Ultimately though, most of us want to be in control or at least choose our version of lack of control (overeating, drunkenness, shopping, etc.). This is why counseling is so popular (Understand, I'm not downplaying the importance of counseling, it's important.), but we go to someone in the hope they will help us regain control when what we really need to do is to let go. 

 The solution is giving control to God. This is what it means in Romans 10:9 when we confess Jesus as Lord. We make him the boss. We give him control. The strange thing is by giving up control to God, we actually gain control. When we, as Jesus put it, lose our lives we gain them. For Christians, the ongoing struggle is letting Jesus stay in charge, walking in the Spirit as Paul puts it. 

By the way, if you've taken back control it's easy to give it back to God. Yes, walking this way doesn't mean there isn't work and hardship, there is, but what it does give is freedom.

Living in Forgiveness

When I first wrote about my struggle with forgiveness I titled the work Impossible to Forgive. The irony was it wasn’t impossible to forgive. I didn’t realize it at the time but I had been dealing with things that could have been considered impossible to forgive before, in my own life, and in the life of those, I taught about. 

David- impossible

Sampson - impossible

Adam and Eve - impossible

Peter - impossible

Paul - impossible

Yet I taught God forgave these people. This is perhaps why though I didn’t see how I could I knew I should. I had seen it.

I knew that though the person who killed my grandmother and the family member who did such wrong didn’t deserve forgiveness, that I didn’t either. 

I might still call my next book impossible to forgive, but the reality is perhaps what I should call it is living in forgiveness. This is where I want to be and where I want to lead others. 

Confessing Your Sins

 

I have been reading Brant Hansen's book The Truth About Us. It is a very insightful look at who we are as humans. The need to justify ourselves and even to deny the evil that is within us. 

I can't argue against any of the books other than to say if the "evil of mankind" is taken to an extreme we are in as much trouble as "everyone is good" theology. I have said before any extreme leads to error. This however is not what I want to look at, though I do want you to read this book.

Hansen said at one point, "If I don't confess my sins, I'll confess yours." 

We might want to say, "No, not me" but the truth is it usually is. It might not be sin in one sense (it might) but we might complain about their political views, climate views, work ethics. . . We will complain about others rather than look at ourselves.

Hansen is right we need to confess our sins and weaknesses or we will focus on the sins and weaknesses of others.

The one concern, I have, is that we not go from confessing our sins in an attitude of repentance and humility to one of pride. I have known groups that went from confession, repentance, and acceptance times to a time where they talked about the love of God, gave confession of their failures, and acceptance of their sin. Looking at the two they are very close except the second leaves out repentance. 

God loves us wherever we are and no matter what we have done. He will even accept us at the point of death. However, he also loves us enough not to leave us where we are. He wants us and will help us change. The deal is we never can get to the place where we think we have arrived because at that point we become self-righteous. 

Hansen put it this way, "We are either self-righteous or we are humble." Those are the only two options open to us as humans.  

Shalone Cason on Unsplash

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A Miracle? I thought you'd be taller?

 

OR "Just Wash"

Recently, we faced a real challenge. We needed to come up with more than one-quarter of our annual income to pay for a mistake someone else made in less than a month. It was money we honestly owed, but someone else made the mistake. I could have gotten angry but this doesn't help. It also doesn't take away from the concern(fear) about how do you come up with that much money, without doing something radical, like borrow or sell a family member (this is a joke).

We don't have an emergency fund for 3 months of expenses as we are still working on debt. We did have the $500 that Dave Ramsey recommends for people with our income, but that wasn't even 10% of the bill. 

God would have to work a miracle. He did.

Right before having to pay the bills (there were two), we received the stimulus check and went through our house gathering every bit of money we had stashed back. A little for vacation was here, a little for gifts was there, a little we forgot about there, and someone paid us for a little thing we did. All of it added together paid it.

Was it a miracle? YES, but it's so underwhelming it's funny. It is like meeting a hero and the comment, "I thought you would be taller," or Naaman who just had to "wash and be clean" from his leprosy. 

I remember, just because it isn't a big show-stopping miracle doesn't make it less a miracle. It could be easy to mark up to chance. It isn't. It was God and I really need to thank him for it. 

So I am, If you're not impressed that is fine. It is me that needs to be grateful and perhaps this can remind us both God works in ways that are very subtle and if we're not careful we might miss it. 

David Clode on Unsplash

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Not a waste

If you try something for six months and enjoy it but decide that this isn't a lasting and overriding passion is it a waste?

Over the last four to five months, I have nickeled and dimed (spent little amounts over many purchases) a couple hundred dollars, maybe even close to three hundred on a making foam armor. I spent my relaxation time doing the work and have a few nice but not great pieces. 

To take my work to the next level will require a lot more money and time. I have other priorities which need dealing with at this time. Did I waste my time?

Of course, each situation is different as are people, but for me, I have to tell myself NO it wasn't. If I had spent the money on ingredients to make pies for people or elaborate meals for guests the money would be gone and I doubt anyone would have complained. The time I spent was time I was supposed to be relaxing which means none productive in the normal sense. So here again no waste. 

Yet, part of me wanted to jump up, look at the few tools I bought, the foam that is unused, and say, Look at that waste!

We are silly people sometimes aren't we. 

On a side note: I used this talent to create something special for my daughter, Azi, and my grandchildren. In fact, the project for the grandchildren resulted in what could be legacy items. These things could change their lives forever. 

Ya, what a waste. (eye roll)

Note to self: Self-doubt - You're an idiot. 

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